A Night To Remember
by sand-nin-gurl
Summary: When Kankurou gets a make-over, will problems arise for our favorite puppeteer? And Why does he hate Gaara so much? (Finished.)
1. The Invitation

**A Night To Remember**  
  
A.N: YO! Heh, heh. This was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing. I got the idea for this fic around two a.m., when I couldn't sleep, and was listening to some Disturbed (DAVID DRAIMAN IS MY GOD!) and wondered what it would have been like for the people in Naruto to dance to Meaning of Life _(The Sickness _album, track 12, good song)_._ I sort of copied this idea from a fic I read about Gaara, Hinata and Sasuke, called Techno Music and some such wonderfulness, so in case anyone is reading this, please don't sue, I admitted I sort of copied this! If the author has any objections, I can remove this fic (I have power!). All the rookies in this fic are around fifteen, except Neji's team; they're sixteen, and so on.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but if I did, Kankurou wouldn't wear that dumb hood.  
  
Pairings: Sasuke/Usual. Temari/Shikamaru. Kankurou/New character/All the other girls. No lemon or nuthin. It's just dirty dancing, muhahaha! Oh, yeah. Naruto/Hinata (I happen to think these two would be adorable together.). P.S.: Review me and tell me if you want this to turn into a chapter production ... it probably will. Yes, it will.  
  
**Chapter One: The Invitation**  
  
Sasuke groaned under his breath as he looked through his mail. Amongst the normal sales ads and notices for wanna-be future accountants, and fan mail, he found a hot pink, frilly envelope with the words YOU'RE INVITED! on the back. He sighed heavily and opened it.  
  
"Ah, crap," he groaned. "'You're invited to celebrate Sasuke-kun's fifteenth birthday, tonight at seven at Yamanaka Ino's house! No presents, just casual'" (since we know he'll just burn them all and save himself the trouble.) "'There will be dancing, free food, and a mini bar. Be there OR WE'LL HUNT YOU DOWN WITH A SPOON!'"  
  
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "They're not serious!" He scowled and burn it. DEATH TO FRILLY PINK OBJECTS OF NO IMPORTANCE!  
  
Naruto's house  
  
"'Sasuke-kun's fifteenth birthday'?" Naruto crowed mockingly. "HA! I turned fifteen five weeks ago! I'M OLDER THEN SASUKE! I BEAT HIM AT BIRTH!"  
  
It's not like he could beat him in any other sense.  
  
Naruto ran into his closet to see if he could find anything worth dancing in. "I'm gonna go just to mock Sasuke!" he said decidedly, throwing random articles of clothing out of his closet. "And," he added, a deep blush creeping over his cheeks, "maybe even get a dance with Sakura-chan!"  
  
Giggling madly, he went back to going through his closet.  
  
Sand-nin's house  
  
"Uchiha's birthday?" Kankurou asked, looking at the invitation over Temari's shoulder.  
  
"I'm not going," Gaara said at once, from where he was leaning up against the wall.  
  
"Oh, come on, Gaara, it'll be fun!" Temari pleaded.  
  
"No."  
  
"Please?"  
  
"..."  
  
"Pretty please?"  
  
"..."  
  
"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"  
  
"Shut up or I'll squish you."  
  
"Come on, Gaara," Kankurou said, grinning weakly. "If you go, we promise not to bother you ever again!"  
  
"If you bother me, I'll just kill you."  
  
"Gaara, please?" Temari begged.  
  
"..."  
  
"Please?"  
  
"..."  
  
"Gaara, if you go," Kankurou said stubbornly, racking his brain for a motive, "I won't talk for a week!"  
  
Gaara raised a nonexistent eyebrow.  
  
"Crap..." Kankurou felt a cold sweat running down his neck.  
  
"Fine." Gaara pushed himself off the wall and went down the hall to his room.  
  
Kankurou groaned and looked at Temari. "I hope you're happy."  
  
"Yep." Temari picked up the phone.  
  
"What're you doing?"  
  
"Getting myself a date," Temari said, going through her pockets for a certain piece of paper with a phone number on it. "Oh, yeah." She turned to Kankurou. "If you go, I forbid you from wearing your make up and hood. You're going to wear pants and a shirt. Not that stupid jump suit."  
  
"Hey, I like my style!" he cried defensively, plucking at his jumpsuit.  
  
"You're the ONLY one who likes your style," Temari said coldly, finding the number and dialing.  
  
"Fine, I'll wear something else," he grumbled, stalking off.  
  
Temari frowned when she heard a busy signal. "Who the hell could he be calling?"  
  
Elsewhere  
  
Shikamaru looked at his cell phone, frowning. "Who could she be calling?" He looked down at the frilly pink invitation in his hand and sighed. "Guess I'll have to go alone ...  
  
"How troublesome."  
  
Later  
  
"Come on, guys!" Temari shouted down the hall. Surprisingly enough, she was the first one dressed. Gaara sulked down the hall, his arms crossed. He had left his gourd in his room, and was looking (very, very, very, very) handsome in a black silk shirt and black slacks. "Where's Kankurou?"  
  
"..."  
  
"Ok." Temari went down the hall and rapped her knuckles on her older brother's bedroom door (which was covered with posters of skulls and death metal bands. (A/N: Yeah, I know, it's an anime, but he strikes me as the kind who would like that kind of music.). When she got no answer, she opened the door. "Kankurou?"  
  
The room was empty. And messy. There were clothes, magazines, scrolls, and shoes all over the floor. The bed was unmade, a jumble of blankets and sheets. On the pillow (which was at the foot of the bed, away from his fellows) was a note. She picked it up.  
  
"Went out shopping for 'decent' clothes, will meet you at the dance, I have the directions," she read. She shrugged and went back down the hall, where, to her surprise, Gaara was waiting for her. "He's meeting us there. Let's go."  
  
Gaara said nothing, currently occupied with rolling up his sleeves so they reached only three quarters of the way down his arm. Temari had a feeling she knew why Kankurou had to go shopping now.  
  
At Ino's house  
  
"Wow, a lot of people showed up," Sakura said, looking around. She, of course, had helped Ino plan this party. Due to that fact that the two of the were jealous creatures, they had invited none of Sasuke's fan girls except those who were in their circle of friends. At a quick glance, they found quite a lot of people: Neji, Lee, Tenten, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru (who was looking for someone), Chouji, Naruto, Sasuke, Temari, Gaara, Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, and Gai. There were also a lot of people who had been invited for the sake of having there be an even number of both genders, although there was a significantly large number of guys then there were of girls. It didn't seem like a lot, but for so many guys to show up for Sasuke's party, it was a big thing.  
  
"Yeah," Ino said, sipping her soda. (A/N: these kids are too young to drink; the age limit is 21 or something.)  
  
"I didn't know so many people like Sasuke," said a girl with long, dark hair and bright blue eyes. She was the only girl the girls had willingly invited, since she in no way shape or form liked Sasuke. Her name was Kyushu, or Kyu, and she was about two years older then the other two girls, but they didn't care.  
  
"Everyone looks really nice," Sakura said, eyeing Sasuke, who looked really sort of handsome in a white shirt and black slacks. Sakura looked really nice, herself, actually. She had grown a bit in the 'A and B' region in the last year, so she didn't look flat chested anymore (that bothered me, I don't know why.), and looked sort of pretty in a green, mini-skirt and matching green spaghetti-strap top, the color matching her eyes exactly. Ino looked really nice, too, in a blue dress coming up to her mid-thigh and tiny diamonds in her hand, stuck on with Velcro (I love those things!). Kyu (who was decidedly prettier then her friends—SHE HAS TO BE, SHE'S THE MADE- UP CHARACTER!) wore a black dress with spaghetti straps and a white Chinese- style dragon across the skirt.  
  
"When are people going to start dancing?" Ino asked frustratingly. The center of the room was completely vacant, even though music was playing over the several large speakers place in random places around the room.  
  
"Because everyone's shy and Shikamaru and Temari haven't noticed each other yet," Sakura said, grinning.  
  
Sure enough, the Konoha Chuunin was wandering around the room, looking for the blonde Sand Chuunin, who was looking for the Konoha Chuunin, both of them wandering in an annoying circle.  
  
"Hey, who's that?" Kyu asked suddenly, pointing at the door.  
  
Both Ino and Sakura turned at once, eyebrows raised. "I don't know," Ino said, just barely audible over the loud music.  
  
"He's HOT!" Sakura said, all thought of Sasuke erased.  
  
Standing in the doorway, looking around almost nervously was a tall guy with brown, spiky hair and lightly tanned skin. He was wearing a black shirt with the first three buttons undone, and black, slightly baggy, slacks. He was, like Sakura had said, very hot. (Guess who?)

(A/N: Hahahahahaha! I know, this chappie was kidn of boring...this isnt a comedy, it's sort of a romance, really...but again, no lemon pairings, since my mom might read it and like, throw the comp in a nearby ocena or something. lol. No, seriously. If anyone reviews this and guesses correctly on who that hot guy is, I'll email you a pick I altered in the Paint function on my comp of said character, my sisters say it looks pretty good! Review! You can't read without reviewing! I need ideas and stuff! I only finished this chappie like five minutes ago, so help me out!)


	2. Who Are You?

A Night To Remember

Hi! TY for all your reviews on the first chappie! 8tear8 I so happy! I really enjoyed writin this, believe me... twas fun! Also, beware, in later chappies, there is some definate lemon/fluff stuff, so if you're like, ten or something, go no further then this chappie, sowwy! Thank you to my beta reader, KageNoKatana, for letting em use her character Rynn in this chappie! .

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, blah blah blah...

Pairings: If you don't like the ShikaTem pairing, don't send me a flamer about it, cuz then I'll just get annoyed, ok, cuz they're gonna be in this alot. Don't send me flamers about any of the pairings, ok, cuz I happen to be really proud of them.

* * *

Chapter Two: Who are you?  
  
The three girls continued to stare at the newcomer, eyes wide. No one else seemed to have noticed him, as he had not said anything when he entered the room. He looked around, as if looking for whomever he had come there with.  
  
"He's looking over here," Kyu said under her breath as his black eyes rested on them.  
  
"He's coming over here!" Sakura squeaked, hiding behind Ino.  
  
"Say something!" Ino hissed, hiding behind Kyu, who looked as if she were about to faint.  
  
"Um ... Hi," the boy said, just loud enough to be heard over the speakers. "Am I at the right place?" He produced a frilly pink invitation.  
  
Kyu nodded mutely, her lips pursed, her eyes wide.  
  
"Um..." The guy stuck his hands in his pockets and looked around again. "Why isn't anyone dancing?"  
  
"Everyone's too shy," Sakura said at once, peeking out from behind Ino, who peeked out from Kyu's other side. "No one likes to be the first one on the dance floor."  
  
"Oh." The guy chewed his lip, as if thinking something over. Turning back to Kyu, he asked, with a small smile (interesting, as his mouth was sort of big), "Do you want to dance?"  
  
Kyu gulped and nodded. Turning back to Ino and Sakura, she hissed, "I'm not going out there alone! Come on!" and grabbed their wrists, pulling them to where the brown haired guy was waiting in the middle of the floor. Slowly, as the tempo of the music picked up, the four of them started to get into the music, dancing together is a sort of circle. Slowly, people began to join them, some in pairs, others coming with groups of friends. Ino and Sakura turned and started dancing with Sasuke, who for some reason allowed it, and Kyu and the brown-haired guy started dancing alone, though neither minded it now that they were "shielded" so to speak. Kyu threw her arms into the air, her whole body moving in time with the rhythm of the song, the guy's hands on her hips as he followed her movement, a soft hand creeping up her back as he brought her down hard on his hips, both of them dancing fast, a wave of black and brown and pale skin as they moved in time with each other, picking up the pace as the tempo increased, though neither stopped.  
  
Suddenly, the song stopped, and the movement came to a halt. Everyone cheered and laughed amongst themselves, some continuing to dance as the songs continued, others, like Kyu and the brown-haired guy, went to sit at the bar and get some drinks.  
  
"That was fun," Kyu said, after ordering a Pepsi. "Where'd you learn to dance like that?"  
  
"I have this CD at home," he said, shrugging and ordering a Coke. "I just sort of practiced in my room."  
  
She laughed a little; Kyu laughed at everything, and, more often then not, she laughed at nothing. "I'm guessing you have a lock on your door, then?"  
  
"Five," he corrected. "My sister likes to barge in on me a lot, so I got a combination lock, a couple key locks, and a voice-activated one." He glanced around the room again. "She's supposed to be here with my brother, but I haven't seen her."  
  
"What's she look like?" Kyu turned around on her stool, Pepsi in hand and scanned the crowd.  
  
"Blond hair, dark green eyes, a little shorter then me. My brother's got red hair and sort of pale green eyes; he's really short."  
  
"Ok." Kyu scanned the room. "Is that your brother?" She pointed to a tall- ish dark-haired boy.  
  
"Nah. His hair is a lot brighter red."  
  
"Kankurou."  
  
"Huh?" The brown-haired boy turned around. "H-hey, Gaara."  
  
Kyu turned, as well. A short, red-haired boy with a tattoo on his forehead stood next to Kankurou between the seats, his arms crossed, looking huffy. Not exactly a people person, she decided. Pause. "You're Kankurou?"  
  
"Yep." Kankurou turned and picked up his Coke. (Congrats to whoever guessed it was him! .)  
  
"Ino-chan said you wore a dorky hood and war-paint." Kyu cocked her head to one side. "You seem to have forgotten that."  
  
Kankurou, who had choked on his drink at the mention of his former outfit, wiped his mouth and shook his head. "No, Temari said I couldn't come within fifty feet of this place if I was wearing that stuff." He paused, and turned to Gaara. "Why are you wearing my clothes?"  
  
Gaara glared at him in that cute, special way he had. "Because I can."  
  
"How did you get in my room?"  
  
"You leave your door open when you're not in there."  
  
While Kankurou thought this over, Gaara said, almost annoyed, "What were you doing over there? It looked like you were having a seizure."  
  
"It's called dancing," Kyu said putting her glass down. "It's really fun, actually."  
  
Kankurou, in his head, did a sort of Lee-pose where he clasped his before him and fire burned in his eyes (This was Inner-Kankurou, only, of course.) A girl had said dancing with him was fun! A GIRL! He could proceed to die happy.  
  
"It looks completely pointless," Gaara said coldly, sitting down on the edge of the stool next to Kankurou. "Temari's looking for you, by the way."  
  
"Where is she?" Kankurou asked, looking around again.  
  
"Having a seizure with that Konoha guy towards the middle of the floor," Gaara answered, turning around to order a glass of water. (The less sugar Gaara has, the better. We can't have a hyperactive killer, now, can we?)  
  
"It's called—"  
  
"Give it up," Kankurou said, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the dance floor. "Come on."  
  
Kyu shrugged and followed him as they danced their way towards Temari and Shikamaru, who were dancing together, looking almost exasperated with each other.  
  
"I tried called you, but the phone was busy," Shikamaru snapped. "Who were you calling? Your date?"  
  
"I was trying to call you!" Temari said angrily; although they were in a death-match of words, they didn't seem at all uncomfortable dancing dirty together. How troublesomely confusing.  
  
"Hey, Temari," Kankurou said as he and Kyu reached them and started dancing, as well.  
  
"Who's this, your date?" Shikamaru asked, jutting his thumb at Kankurou, who instantly gagged.  
  
"I don't know who this guy is!" Temari snapped, glaring at her brother. "Who are you?"  
  
"Jeez," Kankurou mumbled, running his hands up Kyu's sides as she danced against him. "You ask me to wear something different, and here, you don't recognize me? This hurts, Temari."  
  
Temari stopped dead. "KANKUROU?"  
  
"Kankurou?" Shikamaru stopped as well, looking confused.  
  
"Yeah, so?" Her brother grinned at her as he leaned into Kyu, tracing a line up her leg as she started running her fingers through his short, course hair.  
  
"Wow," Temari said quietly as the song stopped. "So... WHY do you wear that hood?"  
  
"Because I like it," he snapped.  
  
"I don't think you should wear it," Kyu said as the four of them headed back to where Gaara was sitting.  
  
"You've never seen him with it," Temari said, although she secretly agreed.  
  
"No, but I've gotten vivid descriptions from a couple of the younger Nins," Kyu said, ordering another Pepsi.  
  
"Oh..." Kankurou hung his head slightly in despair as another song began and Temari and Shikamaru ran off to dance.  
  
"It's OK, though," Kyu aid reassuringly, patting him on the back, a small sweat drop appearing on the back of her head where he couldn't see it.  
  
Suddenly, they heard a soft voice. "Hey, are you Gaara?"  
  
Kankurou looked up. "ACK! IT'S A FEMALE GAARA!" he yelped jumped back.  
  
The girl standing next to Gaara just gave him a look. Her hair was a dark shade of red, with an occasional black streak, and large, aguamarine eyes. On each of her cheeks was a red streak, letting them know her name before she said it. "NO I'M NOT!" she shouted back. "My name is Inuzuka Rynn!"  
  
"Are you Kiba's sister, then?" Kyu asked, drawing the girl's attention to her now.  
  
"Yes ... How did you know?" Rynn asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Your other brother is in my cell," Kyu said plainly.  
  
"Oh ... OH!" Rynn gasped and pointed at Kyu. "I REMEMBER YOU!"  
  
"I'm so glad," Kyu mumbled, sitting down next to Kankurou.  
  
"YEAH!" Rynn turned to Gaara again, who looked like he would like nothing more then to just disappear. "Do you wanna dance?"  
  
"Dance?" Gaara raised a nonexistent eyebrow. "Not. A. Chance. In. Hell."  
  
"Go on, Gaara," Kankurou said, grinning. "Dancing is fun!"  
  
Gaara sighed a long-suffering sigh. "Ok ... fine. I'll go if he goes," he said to Rynn, gutting his thumb at Kankurou.  
  
"OK!" she cried, grinning, and grabbing Gaara's hand, who followed, looking slightly harassed, and yet, anticipating it. (Not very good at hiding emotions, now, is he?)  
  
Kyu stood up, ready to follow them, then frowned slightly when Kankurou didn't follow. "Come on!"  
  
"I can't," he said, before taking a swig of his Coke.  
  
"Why not?" she cried, pushing him lightly in annoyance. "I like this song!"  
  
"I've never practiced for it," he said, his blush actually visible now that he had discarded his paint.  
  
"Well, come on, I'll show you," she said, grabbing his hand. He had just enough time to set his glass down before she had dragged him towards the middle of the dance floor again, where Rynn was hissing instructions to Gaara, who looked completely out of place, even though his gourd was at home. "Put your hands on my waist," Kyu ordered, standing before him and resting her hands on his shoulders. "And follow my movement."  
  
Kankurou did as he was told, putting his hands on the soft curve of her waist as she drew pleasantly close to him, moving back and forth to the music. He felt himself blush slightly as she laid her head on his shoulder, still swaying back and forth to the music (Isn't he a hypocrite? He dances dirty with her, then gets embarrassed when she gets cuddly!). The embarrassed feeling melted slowly as he began to enjoy having her so close to him, and so willingly; usually, he was the one to make moves like this, if he ever got the chance (which he didn't.)  
  
All too soon, the song ended, and Kyu pulled away from him, and grinned at him. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it?"  
  
He shook his head mutely, and followed her back to the bar. Someone had moved their drinks and, looking around, they saw their glasses next to Gaara's elbow from where he sat with his arms crossed, his chin on the space where his forearms crossed, Rynn sitting next to him. When Kankurou asked what he was doing with their drinks, he said he'd saved them from the bartender. (Bless his little possessed self!)  
  
As the night went on, Kankurou and Kyu their time talking amongst themselves at the bar (and sometimes, Kyu asked Gaara a question to which he answered curtly) or got up to dance occasionally. Far too soon for Kankurou's liking, Kyu said goodbye, telling him she had to get up early for a mission she had the next morning. He did an expert job of disguising his deep repulsion for the singularly disgusting fact that she had missions and he didn't, so he would be staying at home with a psychopathic brother while his older sister probably spent all day on a date with that Konoha brat, and Kankurou would have nothing to do except baby-sit said psychopathic brother, while Kyu was probably off doing things of use, and yes, he knew he was mentally babbling, but he was really kind of ticked off that he couldn't at least TRY and spend the day with her, and so he decided he had a right to babble. But then, she might have just said she had a mission because she wanted to appear important. Suddenly, as Kankurou was mentally telling his inner self off for confusing him, Kyu pulled his head down and planted a soft kiss on his lips before smiling at him and sailing away.  
  
"...That was the singular most wonderful nanosecond of my entire existence," Kankurou stammered, starring at the door she had disappeared behind.  
  
"Speak like a human being," Gaara said coldly. "I don't see what's so drastically wonderful about someone mashing their mouth on yours. It sounds unnaturally unhygienic."  
  
Kankurou starred at his brother, wondering whether or not he should asked Gaara why, at fourteen, he still didn't understand kisses, (and what he planned on doing if Rynn kissed him, for that matter) but then decided that confusing Gaara on something "unhygienic" wasn't in his best interest, he just walked away.  
  
(A/N: Second chappie! All done! I thought it was kind of cute. TY TO KageNoKatana for letting me use her character, Rynn! [And for guessing that it was Kankurou, a couple people guessed right, HA!] Next up, you find out why Kankurou hated Gaara so much, and why he and Temari are sort of close!) 


	3. Yamiko

A Night To Remember

Hi! TY ALL FOR YOUR REVIEWS! . I've had a couple of people ask about the thing in the summary that says "And why does Kankurou hate Gaara so much?" and that unfolds in this chapter. Again, don't send me any flamers about the pairings in this fic, if you don't like the pairings, you don't have to read it. (But you'll be missing out!) Hope you all like it! .

* * *

Chapter Three: Yamiko  
  
Temari smiled slightly at Kankurou when she came down from her room the next morning. (Since they had moved into Konoha since their banishment from the village of Sand due to Gaara's insanity, they had moved out of their rented apartment they had used during the Chuunin exams and into a two- floor house near the outskirts of Konoha.) He gave a grunt to show he had acknowledged her existence for the day and went back to watching TV, a salad bowl full of Cocoa Puffs cereal in his lap, wearing his baggy red plaid pajama bottoms and his bathrobe. She wasn't all that surprised to find he had, once again, abandoned the purple face make up and pig-eared hood, but she was still slightly worried about him.  
  
"Ok, what's wrong?" she asked, vaulting herself over the top of the sofa to sit next to him.  
  
"Huh?" Using a wooden mixing spoon, he shoveled more of the chocolate sugary goodness into his mouth.  
  
"Come on, you never break out the salad bowl unless you're depressed," she said, picking out a piece of the cereal, only to have her hand batted away with a grunt of "Mine!" She sighed. "Seriously, what's wrong?"  
  
"I don't want to talk about it," he said coldly, turning the volume up on the TV.  
  
Temari frowned and got up, turning the TV off and unplugging it. Whirling around on her bewildered and angry brother, she asked, "This is about Yamiko, isn't it?"  
  
Kankurou stood up, grabbing his salad bowl. "Thanks, Temari," he said coldly. "You just HAD to bring up Yamiko, didn't you?"  
  
"Kankurou, wait," Temari said angrily, jumping out and grabbing his arm before he could go back upstairs to his room.  
  
"Why should I?"  
  
"You can't be afraid to like her just because of what happened in the past," Temari said, her eyes softening. "It wasn't your fault."  
  
"No, you're right," he said angrily, yanking his arm away. "It was Gaara's."  
  
"Kankurou!" she shouted. "Don't say that!"  
  
"Why shouldn't I?" he snapped, whirling around. "He ruined my life!"  
  
"He does if you make it seem like that," she said, trying (REALLY) hard not to blow up on him.  
  
"Temari," he shouted, seething with rage, "She didn't want anything to do with me because I was related to him!"  
  
"Then blame Kazekage!" she cried. "He made him like that!"  
  
"I knew you wouldn't understand!" he shouted back. "You never did understand!"  
  
"What are you talking about?!" she shouted, angry now. "I had just as hard a time of it as you! You're not the only one who has suffered! You're just the only one who can't let it go!"  
  
Kankurou's glare faltered for a split second, then went back up. "So what if I can't let go of it! She was my first friend, and I really liked her, but she didn't want to be around me because of him!"  
  
"So, I doubt Kyu is like that! She already met Gaara and she doesn't care! I saw her talking to him, and I doubt she cares!"  
  
"That's because she doesn't know he's a psychopathic freak!" Kankurou snapped.  
  
Knock, knock, knock.

"Kankurou?" they heard Kyu call.  
  
"Are you going to tell her?" Temari asked, lowering her voice so that whoever was outside couldn't hear.  
  
"No!" Kankurou hissed in a "well, duh" sort of hiss.  
  
Knock, knock, knock.  
  
"Fine, I'll tell her," Temari said, making for the door to answer it.  
  
"No!" Kankurou hissed, putting his cereal on the table and lunging at her, knocking her down. There was a slight scuffle before a voice shut them up.  
  
"Kankurou, I know you're in there, I can hear you!"  
  
Kankurou and Temari's heads shot up from where they were on the floor, Temari pulling at the corners of his mouth, and Kankurou pulling on the top two pigtails on her head.  
  
"Kankurou, I really need to talk to you!"  
  
"She knows about Gaara!" Kankurou hissed at Temari shrinking away from the door. "I'm not here!"  
  
"I can hear you, you know," Kyu called from the other side of the door. "Come on, just open the door!"  
  
Kankurou looked at Temari and nodded at the door. "I'm not getting it!" she mouthed. "She's your woman!"  
  
"She. Is. Not. My—"  
  
"I heard that."  
  
Kankurou and Temari looked at each other before Kankurou finally reached up and opened the door, kicking Temari off of him to avoid any uncomfortable situations.  
  
However, he was not that lucky.  
  
"Um..." Kyu looked from one of the Sand Nins to the other. Looking over at Temari, he realized her clothes were distinctly rumpled.  
  
"Oh—we were..." He felt a cold sweat creeping down his bare neck.  
  
"Rough-housing," Temari said, as if this were a normal occurrence in their household (which it was, along with attempted murder, strange exotic squirrels, etc).  
  
"Oh ... Um..." Kyu faltered again, not coming in. "I just wanted to say that I don't care what your brother is, because I already knew what he was. Everyone does, and I don't care." She turned away. "I just wanted to tell you that before I go away on my mission."  
  
"You're leaving?" he yelped, jumping up.  
  
"I have a mission," she repeated, glancing at him over her shoulder. "I'm going to be gone a couple of days."  
  
"Well... um..." Kankurou looked at Temari for help; she gestured meaningfully at Kyu. Kankurou gave her a look, which said, quite clearly, "No! I don't wanna!" but at her glare, he sighed and approached Kyu. "Um... I'm gonna miss you," he said quietly, before hugging her tightly around the waist form behind. "A lot."  
  
He felt her pause for a few seconds before turning around in his arms and wrapping her arms around his neck. He heard Temari go back in the house, giving them some privacy.  
  
"I meant what I said," she said softly, her warm breath grazing his throat. "I don't care if you're related to him; you're two totally different people."  
  
Kankurou pulled away from her slightly, but kept his arms around her waist. "If he goes psycho again and decides it's time for a killing spree," he said, grinning slightly. "I won't let him hurt you." Leaning down over her (he was at least a foot taller then her) he pressed his lips against hers, pulling her against him. Closing his eyes, he saw fireworks flash across his eyes as she pressed herself against him, tightening her hold around his neck. This time, however, he was in control, and he wasn't going to let her go any time soon.  
  
Later  
  
Temari knocked once on Kankurou's door, which was cracked open. He sat on his windowsill, starring out the window at the sky, which was unfurling in a storm. "Good bye to Kyu?"  
  
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Who said you could come in my room?"  
  
"I'm not in your room, baka."  
  
He shrugged, looking outside again. "Not for long; she'll be back."  
  
"I'm sure," Temari said under her breath, backing out from behind the door and heading down the hall.  
  
"I HEARD THAT!" Kankurou called after her.

(A/N: GRIN! Buncha lotta fluffies! . Me like fluffies! Yup yup yup. Review!!! But no flamers...I'm very sensitive right now, and if I get a flamer, I have a feeling I'll just stop writing for a while...SO NO FLAMERS! .)


	4. Awaken

A Night To Remember

Hi! Thank you all so much for your reviews! This chappie has alotta lemony goodness! . Yeah, I know I said I wouldn't be putting any lemons, and technically, I'm not. .' Don't really have alot to say now except...REVIEW!!

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Chapter Four: Awaken  
  
Kankurou sat on his bed, the lights out except for the American Christmas lights he had taped over the shelf around his bed. He starred out the window, still waiting for Kyu to come back. Sighing deeply, he lay back on a pile of pillows, his hands behind his back, starring out of the window at the Crescent moon. It had been two days since the party and Kyu's kiss, and he found himself missing her every minute of every waking day.  
  
Ever since he was a kid ... well, actually ever since Gaara was born, people ran away from Kankurou, just because he had been related to Gaara. Then, when he was ten, he met Yamiko, a transfer student from some other village. They had gotten along fine, because she hadn't known about Gaara, and Kankurou had really liked her. Then, one day, Gaara had scared her by attacking her friends with the sand when they had been playing outside. After that, Yamiko had wanted nothing to do with him. Kankurou grimaced slightly; he had hated Gaara so much then, and, deep in his heart, he still did. It wasn't something he could easily let go of. He hadn't found it easy to like anyone after that; he didn't want to get hurt again because of Gaara. Gaara ruined his life in more ways then one.  
  
But Kyu was different, he thought suddenly. She liked you before she knew Gaara was your brother. And she had said so herself, she didn't care if you were related to Gaara. He couldn't help but smile to himself.  
  
Suddenly, he heard a knock at the door, and, noticing he had left it unlocked again, he got up to slam it in whoever-disturb-him's face. When he reached the door and yanked it open, he faltered. "Kyu-chan."  
  
She smiled up at him, her blue eyes filled with desire as she pulled him down to her level, kissing him deeply. He sighed slightly against her full lips and pulled her to him, closing the door so they could get some privacy; Temari had made it very clear that their house was G-rated when Gaara was around. Her cool hands traced up his bare arms (he having changed for bed, wearing only his pajama bottoms again), leaving a trail of fire behind. He felt her push him down roughly, straddling his waist and leaning down to lick his ear. He felt himself shudder; that just felt nasty! He jerked his head away and she paused, unsure for a minute, before kissing him firmly on the lips, as if by means of apology. He readily accepted, running his hands across the bottom of her shirt before they found the edge and snaked their way to her bare skin. The fireworks came back, but as they did, he felt something else.  
  
An Illusion.  
  
Sitting upright, he pushed her off him with a lot of force. "Who are you?" he growled, his fingers itching for Karasu.  
  
In a burst of smoke, a taller girl with a blonde pigtail sat before him, looking annoyed. "How did you know it was me?" she said coldly.  
  
"You're horrible at disguising your Illusions," he snapped. "You're the girl from the other night; Kyu's friend."  
  
"Yamanaka Ino," she said proudly.  
  
"Why did you do this?" he growled, his fingers entwining with the ribbons encasing Karasu.  
  
Ino's eyes flicked to the puppet, but she said stubbornly, "You shouldn't be with her!"  
  
"Oh?" he said coldly, the top of Karasu's head coming into view. "And I suppose you think you're the better choice? Here's a hint; I don't have back-stabbers attractive."  
  
Ino bit her lip, but continued. "She only likes you for your face!"  
  
"And before I came to that dance, you acted like I was a freak of nature," he said coldly. "If anyone likes me for my face, it's you." Standing up, he opened the door. "Get out."  
  
"But—"  
  
"Get out or I'll sic Gaara on you!"  
  
She didn't need to be told twice. Kankurou smirked to himself. Maybe having a psychopathic brother wasn't a bad thing after all.  
  
The next day  
  
Kankurou mumbled to himself as he crawled out of bed and nearly ran into the wall in a comatose state of mind. Sighing and pulling on his robe, he dragged himself down the hall and to the stairs, but, finding it too energy-consuming to take it one step at a time, allowed himself to simply drop down the stairs, landing in a heap at the bottom.  
  
From the kitchen, Temari sighed. "Looks like he stayed up late again," she said, to Gaara over her shoulder from where he was eating a [insert fruit here].  
  
Kankurou groaned to himself, dragging himself over to the table and slumping over it. Gaara starred at him for a moment before kicking a chair over to slide beneath his brother.  
  
Kankurou groaned his thanks and slumped over the chair, folding his arms on the table and resting his head on them.  
  
"Rough night?" Temari asked, putting a bowl and a box of Cocoa Puffs in front of him. "I don't see how, it's not like you got any action."  
  
"Action?" Gaara asked innocently.  
  
"Oh, I got some, alright," Kankurou mumbled, grabbing at the Cocoa Puffs and pulling them on the table next to the bowl.  
  
"Really?" Temari asked, turning around.  
  
"Yep." He picked up the milk and this time, poured it in the bowl.  
  
"Kyu came home?" Temari sat herself down between her brothers with a plate of eggs.  
  
"Nope." Kankurou picked up his spoon and started shoveling air into his mouth. "Ino came over disguised as Kyu."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yep." He sighed and gave up on the cereal. "She tried to get me to—"  
  
"You didn't, did you?" Temari interrupted at once.  
  
"No!" Kankurou's head shot up. "I'm not stupid, I saw the Chakra Illusion!"  
  
"What was Ino trying to get Kankurou to do?" Gaara asked, but once again, was ignored.  
  
"How far did you get?" Temari asked keenly.  
  
"Pervert," Kankurou mumbled, holding his bowl of milk at the edge of the table and brushing the cereal in it.  
  
"I just want to know!"  
  
"We were just making out, that's all," he said coolly, stirring his cereal. "Then I saw the illusion and kicked her out."  
  
"Good job," Temari said as the phone rang.  
  
Kankurou and Temari both looked at the phone, then at each other. Smirking, the two lunged over the table to get to the phone hanging on the wall, and ended up colliding in mid-lung. A scuffle shortly followed.  
  
"You don't have anyone who would be calling you!" Temari shouted, landing a well aimed kicked to his head and jumping up to get the phone.  
  
"I might!" he shouted, grabbing her ankles and pulling her back. "Who cares if that Konoha brat wants to call you?!"  
  
"I care! And his name is Shikamaru! He has a nice name, so say it right! Shi-ka-mar-u!"  
  
"Hello, Sand-nin residence."  
  
Kankurou and Temari froze, and looked up at the phone. Gaara glared down at them, the phone off the hook and on his ear.  
  
"NO!" both shouted, jumping up, only to be blocked by a shield of sand.  
  
"Hello, Sakura. What do you want?" they heard Gaara asked. "It's pointless to want to talk to him ... I know that, don't talk to me like I'm stupid ... Uchiha was weak, I had no other choice ... Shut up or I'll squish you." They heard the phone smack down on the receiver as the sand shield melted away.  
  
"Who was that?" Temari asked, picking up the phone, as if whoever had been on the other line would still be connected.  
  
"Sakura."  
  
"What did she want?"  
  
"Kankurou."  
  
Temari turned to look at Kankurou, who shrugged. "I'm beginning to think losing the hood was a bad idea," she said thoughtfully, before hanging up.  
  
"It's your fault," he muttered, going back to his cereal.  
  
Later  
  
Kankurou tossed himself on the sofa and grabbed the remote, turning it on. As he had suspected, he had absolutely nothing to do except make sure Gaara stayed in the house while Temari was out. He had no idea what she did when she was out, and, quite frankly, he had no desire to.  
  
Brrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnggggggg.  
  
Dammit, he was gonna KILL that machine! He groaned and dragged himself up off the sofa and mentally pulled himself over to the phone and picked it up.  
  
"Hello?" he mumbled, leaning against the counter.  
  
"Hi, Kankurou, it's Sakura!"  
  
Groan. "What do you want?"  
  
"Um ... Did Ino go over your house last night?" She sounded nervous.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Um ... I told her not to."  
  
"Ok." What did she want, an award?  
  
"I tried to stop her, too."  
  
"Obviously not hard enough," he said coldly. _Hang up_! he ordered himself.  
  
"She didn't ... um ... try anything, did she?"  
  
"What do you think?"  
  
"Oh..." She got points for sounding genuinely sorry. Lets give her one point, shall we?  
  
"Look, I gotta go, I have to baby-sit my psychopathic, serial killer of a brother. Bye." He slammed the phone down.  
  
"Do you always insult people behind their backs?"  
  
Kankurou whirled around. Gaara glared at him from where he stood at the foot of the stairs.  
  
"G-Gaara..." Kankurou grinned weakly. _Oh shit.  
_  
"Is that all you think I am?"  
  
"Um ... N-no..."  
  
"Don't lie. You always stutter when you lie."  
  
Mental note to self: Make sure you never stutter again.  
  
"N-no, I don't." Nice job, spaz.  
  
Gaara made a sound sort of between a scoff and a growl and turned on his heel, heading back up the stairs.  
  
Kankurou breathed a sigh of relief, before Gaara turned around and said quietly. "I'm sorry."  
  
Kankurou's head shot up. "For what?"  
  
"Yamiko."  
  
Kankurou nearly fell over. "You ... heard us?"  
  
"Were you trying to be quiet?"  
  
Oh, yeah. It was a screaming death match.  
  
"I won't let it hurt her," Gaara mumbled, before going back upstairs.  
  
Kankurou faltered. Did he mean Kyu?  
  
_Go after him, you idiot!_ said the voice in his head. _Go tell him it's ok! GO!  
_  
His feet started up the stairs, but where stopped by a knock at the door. It wasn't like Gaara was going anywhere, he decided, going over to the door to open it.  
  
"Hi, Kankurou-chan!" said Kyu, hugging him around the waist.  
  
Kankurou paused, making sure there was no chakra Illusions at work, before hugging her back. He sighed against her soft hair. He had to tell her about Ino; he knew for a fact Ino wasn't going to tell her ... WHY DID THE HARD THINGS HAVE TO BE HIS PROBLEM ALL THE TIME?!  
  
"Um ... Kyu?" He bit his lip. This was gonna be really hard. He pulled her inside and closed the door, making sure Gaara wasn't on the stairs again. "I have to talk to you ... About Ino."  
  
"Ino-chan?" She looked up at him, her large, blue eyes captivating him for a split second before he nodded. "What about her?"  
  
"Um..." He sighed and steered her over to sit on the couch. (This more for his benefit then hers.) Sitting down next to her, he pulled her legs across his leg and put his arms on them to keep her form jumping up if she got angry, which he knew she would.  
  
"Is everything ok?" she asked, her eyes filled with concern as she gently stroked his hair.  
  
"Um ... No," he answered truthfully, making her delicate eyebrows go up. "Last night, wile you were gone, Ino came over."  
  
"Ok ... And?"  
  
"Well ... she was disguised as you." He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye; he saw her face instantly tense up.  
  
"And?"  
  
"And, well ... you know..."  
  
"You kissed her?" She didn't sound angry (THANK GOD!); instead, she sounded and looked hurt.  
  
"Well ... she was disguised as you," he mumbled. "And I didn't see the Illusion until a couple minutes later."  
  
"What did she say when you found out?" Coldness was creeping over her voice; he had a feeling all warmth for Ino had left her.  
  
Kankurou chewed his lip. "She said ... that I shouldn't be with you."  
  
Kyu's eyes widened. "She said that?!" She made to stand up, but he kept her down with his arms on her legs.  
  
"Um ... Yeah," he said, most of his energy being focused on keeping her in a seated position. "But I said no and kicked her out." He turned to look at her again, and, to his surprise, saw her eyes welling up with tears. "Wha...?"  
  
"I can't believe she would do that!" she whimpered, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "She was my best friend!"  
  
Kankurou felt his heart wrench as he pulled her over to sit on his lap. He knew trying to cheer her up was useless, but he wanted to make her feel better. Holding her tight, he kissed her lips, cheeks, and eyes, kissing away the tears as they fell. He felt her arms go around his neck, her fingers entwining with his hair. He kissed her again where her shoulder met with her neck, then slowly kissed his way down her collarbone to press his lips against the hollow of her throat. He felt her cool hands work their way between them to work his shirt up his chest. He broke away from her quickly and raised his arms, allowed her to pull his shirt of his head before he kissed her again, this time more passionately, his hands (which, to his annoyance, were trembling) trailing down her back.  
  
"Oh my god, will you get a room?"  
  
Kankurou broke the kiss again, and looked over his shoulder, annoyed. Temari and Shikamaru stood in the doorway, Temari looking annoyed and Shikamaru looking embarrassed. "Get a life, Temari."  
  
"Whatever you too little love birds are planning, you can do up in your room," Temari snapped, tossing her keys on the table and crossing the room to the fridge. "What'll you do if Gaara comes down here?"  
  
"Tell him to go back upstairs," Kankurou said simply, standing up and setting Kyu on the floor. She didn't look at all embarrassed, just a little disappointed. He had to admit, he was, too. "He's fourteen, he should know by now the forces of nature can override the senses. Besides, he's got a girlfriend, doesn't he?"  
  
"He does?" Temari raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Yeah; that Rynn girl from the dance."  
  
"Oh ... poor Gaara," Kyu mumbled, tossing Kankurou's shirt over the back of the sofa, obviously having no intention of letting him replace it. "I've known her for a long time. She's sweet and all, but she's just ... loud."  
  
"Like Kiba," Shikamaru said in a long-suffering voice.  
  
"Yep." Kyu sighed. "But Gaara must like her."  
  
Temari shrugged. "I guess."  
  
Kankurou rolled his eyes at her. "Come on, Kyu," he said, taking her hand and leading her upstairs, avoiding Temari's wink.  
  
Once in the second-floor hallway, they started down the hall to Kankurou's room, which was the last one, when a door to their right opened, and Gaara poked his head out. "Don't be loud," he said coldly, totally unaware of exactly what those three words could mean if he knew what they were planning. He had, of course, simply meant that he didn't want them to have their music too loud, or some such nonsense.  
  
"Hey, Kyu!" Rynn called over Gaara's shoulder at the two blushing Nins.  
  
"Hey, Rynn," Kyu said, grinning a bit. "Don't you two be loud, either." Winking at Rynn, she followed Kankurou to his room.  
  
"Whoa..." She looked around. Temari's statement of it being 'messy' was an understatement. It was a large room, but he had crammed a lot of stuff in it. On the shelves above his bed, he had several scrolls, bandages, and a few manga. Over the head of the bed were Christmas lights, which were plugged in, casting a sort of half-lighted orange glow over the room. In one corner, he had his two puppets, unwrapped, their arms and legs strewn across each other. Screws, bolts, tools, cans of oil and clothes were around them, arranged somewhat neatly in piles of size, type and use. The bed was another story. There wasn't really a designated place to put your head; there were pillows all over the mattress (it was really a futon) and an entanglement of blankets. It was a large bed, and looked really comfortable, despite the tangle. Amongst the blankets there was an occasional magazine or Manga, some opened, the covers facing up, as if he had not quite finished with them, but had gotten bored with them. Hanging on the walls were posters of a few bands (Of course, there had to be Disturbed up there; I'm in love with them!) and some children's marionettes (Is that spelled right?). She saw one that looked sort of like a badger, but more like a raccoon. (It's the Shukaku! Tribute to KageNoKatana! Thank you gift for letting me use Rynn!)  
  
Kankurou followed her gaze from where he was tossing some clothes in the closet. "That's one of my first puppets my dad gave me," he said, going over and picking it up off the nail it was rested on. "You wanna try?"  
  
"Sure," she said, taking it and looking at the controls. Instead of the wooden board most puppets had, it had a small wooden ring attached to the end of each of the strings. There were ten of them in all, two on each of the limbs. "How's, um ... How's it work?"  
  
"Oh..." It had never occurred to the well-experienced puppeteer that someone couldn't figure out what was so simple to him. (It doesn't happen that often, you see.) "You slip your fingers in the rings, and twitch them to move it."  
  
"Oh..." She put her fingers in the rings, which were labeled "R1," "R2," "R3," and so on, to show which hand and which finger to put the ring on. Once each of the rings was in place, she moved her fingers slightly, and, to her utmost joy, the puppet's legs moved in a walking motion. "Look, I did it!"  
  
"Good job." She felt him lean over her from behind and kiss her throat lovingly. She leaned her head slightly to the side, giving him better access. To show his appreciation, he moved his hands to wrap around her waist, pulling her against him. "Now, where were we?" he said in a hoarse whisper, turning her around and taking the puppet off her fingers.  
  
(A/N: He-he-he-he, me so bad. Lol. Lotsa fluffinesses! Lol. If you want a continuation of the nice lil THING Kankurou and Kyu had going, ask me in a review and I'll email it to you. Lol. Again, TY to KageNoKatana for letting me use Rynn. Sorry she's not more of a major character! Maybe in later chappies! . -) 


	5. Revenge

A Night To Remember

Hey! Thanks for all the reviews! I thought I'd get attacked by flamers. Guess not. HA! (forgets she asked you not to send flamers) Anyway, so I was reading a couple of fan fics last night, and I was thinking; hardly anyone likes Kankurou-kun but me. I mran, yeah, he has a fan here or there, but still. WHY DO YOU PEOPLE MAKE HIM SUCHA A PERVERTED JERK!? Oh well. (destorys the video cameras showing her laugh her head off at a fic about Kankurou's porno-obsessions.)Ahem. Review!

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Chapter Five: Revenge  
  
Kankurou smiled tiredly, rolling over to look at Kyu, who lay next to him on her side, fast asleep. He couldn't blame her; he was pretty tired himself. His smile grew as he ran his hand down her side, remembering everything he had done to that body. He felt a wrench again when he looked at her sweet, full lips; on the lower lip, he saw red cuts from where she had bit herself to keep from crying out. He leaned down and kissed it gently, feeling guilty.  
  
At his touch, her eyes fluttered open and she smiled at him, moving closer, pressing her lips on his, then snuggling up to him.  
  
"Sorry," he mumbled, his hands resting on her waist as he pulled a blanket to cover her.  
  
"For what?" she asked, smiling and kissing his neck.  
  
"If I hurt you."  
  
She looked up at him, slightly confused. "What are you talking about?"  
  
He touched her lower lip where she had bitten it.  
  
"Oh!" She smiled. "Don't worry about it; it always hurts for girls." She kissed his hand and draped her arm across his chest.  
  
"I'm still sorry," he said quietly, reveling in the feeling of her skin against his.  
  
She shrugged, resting her soft head on his chest, her hot breath tickling him. Smiling in spite of his guilt, he smiled slightly and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.  
  
The next morning  
  
Kankurou opened one eye, and closed it again; he wondered if last night had been a dream; he felt the bed next to him; it was warm. He opened his eyes, finding the spot vacant. Sitting up, he looked around. Someone had gone to some effort to clean up; all the clothes that he had missed in last night's quick cleaning had been folded and put on the shelves in his closet, or in a small pile next to his door to be washed; the magazines and books he had tossed off the bed had been stacked against the wall. Sitting in the middle of the room and pulling on her sandals was Kyu.  
  
"Going somewhere?" he mumbled, lying back against his pillow.  
  
She turned and smiled at him. "I have some stuff I need to take care of," she said, standing up and straightening her black shirt. Crossing the room to his bed, she leaned down and gave him a soft peck on the cheek and was about to stand up again when he pulled her down by the arm, kissing her passionately.  
  
"Where are you going?" he asked as she lingered there for a minute or two.  
  
"Home, first, to change my clothes," she said, sitting back on her heels. "Then I'm meeting a friend. I'll be back."  
  
"Promise?" (You screw once, it takes over your mind, I tell you!)  
  
"Promise," she said, holding out her little finger for a pinky-swear.  
  
He grinned, wrapping his little finger around hers. Giving him another kiss on the cheek, she stood up and swept out of the room. Kankurou sighed and rolled over, going back to sleep.  
  
A couple minutes later, Yamanako Flower shop  
  
Ino sighed heavily, leaning on the counter of her parents' flower shop. Once again, her mother had left her in charge of the shop while she was out; this boredom was one of the reasons Ino had decided to become a ninja ... But somehow, her mother always managed to pull her back in.  
  
At the ring of the small bell over the door, she said mechanically, "Welcome to Yamanako's flower shop, may I interest you in some—Oh, hi, Kyu."  
  
"Hello, Ino," the black-haired girl said in a casual voice.  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"I was about to ask you that," Kyu said with a small smile. "I had a really weird talk with Kankurou-kun last night."  
  
"Really?" Ino said carelessly. "About what?"  
  
"Well, he might have been delusional, but he was dead set on the idea that you used ninjustu to turn into me and tried to turn him against me." Kyu smiled carelessly, as if this were totally normal.  
  
"... Oh." Ino felt nervousness creep over her.  
  
Kyu, in an almost inhuman speed, stood before the counter and smacked her hands down on the counter, her face inches from Ino. "Let me make one thing very clear, Yamanako Ino. If you even try and come between us again, I'll kill you!"  
  
Ino faltered. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"I think you know what I'm talking about," Kyu said coldly, her cheeks flushed with rage. "You bitch!"  
  
"I'm a bitch?" Ino cried. "You didn't even know he existed until I invited him to the party!"  
  
"Oh, right, the party for the guy you were supposedly obsessed with, and yet, dropped as soon as a prettier guy came along!" Kyu shouted back. (A/N: Inner-Sand-Nin-Gurl: HELL YEAH! GO KYU! punchs air)  
  
"I thought we were friends!" Ino shouted. "We made a pact never to go for the same guy!"  
  
"Which is why I never went after Sasuke!" Before Ino could counter that, however, Kyu said, in a cold voice, "And you're no friend of mine," then swept out of the flower shop, leaving a former best friend in a cold fury.  
  
Later  
  
Temari smiled at Kyu when she came back. "He's still upstairs."  
  
"OK, thanks." Kyu went to the foot of the stairs, then paused, and turned to Temari, who was watching TV. "Hey, Temari?"  
  
"Yep?" Temari turned the TV volume down.  
  
"Have you ever told Shikamaru you loved him?"  
  
Temari turned around bodily on the couch. "You screwed him and you didn't tell him you loved him somewhere in the middle of it like any normal female organism?"  
  
"Um ... no." Kyu blushed slightly.  
  
"Aw, that's so..." Temari paused. "Humanely wrong!" she finished, after thinking it over.  
  
"So have you ever told him you loved him?"  
  
"Who? My brother or my sex slave?" Temari looked completely unconcerned by this last question.  
  
"Your sex slave." (Kyu wasn't too concerned either.)  
  
"Yep. A couple of times."  
  
"How did you tell him the first time?" Kyu sat down on the back of the sofa, and fell backwards, so she was sitting it in reverse.  
  
"Um ... Actually, I was sort of trying to get him to screw me, so I told him I loved him and he got excited," Temari said, thoughtfully. "But you guys are past that!"  
  
"Yeah ... But thanks," Kyu said, pushing herself up again.   
  
"No problem," Temari said (not at all aware of how she had helped).  
  
Kyu went up the stairs two at a time and went down the hall to Kankurou's room. Apparently, he was of the habit of leaving it open now. She crept in silently, and couldn't help but smile when she saw him lying on his back, staring at the ceiling; his hair was wet, and his skin was slightly pink, as if he had just gotten out of the shower. He didn't notice her until she was crouching next to him.  
  
"Hey," he said, smiling. "I was just thinking about you!"  
  
"Me, too," she said, pulling off her shoes and crawling up on the bed to lay over him. "Well ... about you, not me."  
  
He grinned, his hand stroking the soft curve of the small of her back. "So, what's up?"  
  
She shrugged, leaning down and capturing his mouth in a sweet kiss. "I just wanted to say I love you."  
  
Every single cell in Kankurou's body froze. "Um ... Really?"  
  
She nodded, kissing his lips, then making her way down his chin to kiss his neck, her hands trailing up his chest, then back down his sides, creeping down the blanket covering him from the waist down. He paused, his hands on her waist, staring at the ceiling again.  
  
_Tell her you love her!_ Kankurou-in-his-head shouted.  
  
_But ... That's a serious thing! I can't just ...  
_  
_You already screwed her! What's there to think about?  
_  
Mentally biting the voice in his head, he said quietly, "I ... love you, too..."  
  
Her head shot up from where she was kissing his chest. "Really?"  
  
"Yeah," he said, deciding it was true. "Um ... you know, if you were going to just sort of move it right along, I'm COMPLETELY ok with that."  
  
Later  
  
Kankurou and Kyu sat on the sofa watching TV, snuggling and looking absolutely adorable. Shikamaru and Temari sat on an over-stuffed chair, looking a little less cute due to the fact that they were bickering under their breaths. Gaara wasn't there, saying that he and Rynn were going to do a practice-training session. The topic of argument/discussion between the two bickering lovers tonight was porn.  
  
"Those people get paid to have their sex taped while they look like they're having an orgasm from the time the tape starts to the time it ends!" Temari hissed.  
  
"Correction: they get paid to have sex and look sexy," Shikamaru hissed.  
  
"Exactly! We do that and we're not paid! Porn is so pointless!"  
  
"She's got a point," Kyu said with a shrug, playing with the sash of Kankurou's bathrobe, which he had let her wear while her clothes were in the wash. "Why watch it when you can do it?"  
  
"Well ... when you put it like that..." Shikamaru shrugged.  
  
"OK, 'Friends' it is!" Kyu grabbed the remote and changed the channel (A/N: I don't know about you, but I love that show) extracting groans of protest from both the guys. "Hey, do you want to have fun tonight, or not?" she asked threateningly.  
  
Kankurou shut up very fast.  
  
"I think I want a latte," Temari said suddenly, standing up.  
  
"Oh, oh, I want one!" Kyu cried. "Can you get me a—Oh, never mind, I'll just go with you." She stood up and followed Temari to the door.  
  
"In a bathrobe?" Kankurou looked over the back of the sofa.  
  
"Good point." Kyu looked down at herself in the overly large black bathrobe (which, by the way, was so long, a few inches dragged on the floor). "Wait for me, ok, Temari?" she called, running upstairs.  
  
"She did look cute, though," Kankurou said thoughtfully.  
  
"Ok, I'm ready!" Kyu ran back downstairs.  
  
"You didn't change at all!" Kankurou laughed, amused. Indeed, she was still wearing the bathrobe, but he noticed she was now wearing his slippers. "Oh..."  
  
"Yeah, you can't go outside without shoes," she said, suddenly very perky, following Temari out of the house.  
  
"Porn?" Shikamaru asked, once the door had closed.  
  
"Oh, yeah." Kankurou grabbed the remote.  
  
"CHANGE THAT CHANNEL AND YOU BOTH WILL BE SLEEPING ON THE COUCH!"  
  
"Dammit!" they both hissed, tossing the remote away.  
  
"Hey, Kankurou?" said a quiet voice.  
  
"Yeah?" He turned around, and, to his surprise, he saw Gaara standing in the doorway, looking uncomfortable. "What's up?"  
  
"I need to talk to you."  
  
"'Bout what?" Kankurou turned the TV on mute.  
  
"...............Sex ..............."  
  
Kankurou and Shikamaru looked at each other, then smirked. "What do you want to know about it?"  
  
"Why do you guys do it so much?"  
  
Shikamaru literally fell off his seat; Kankurou, however, was too surprised to move. "W-what?"  
  
"Why do you two have sex so much?" Gaara repeated.  
  
"Because..." The two older ninjas looked at each other. "We like it," Shikamaru said lamely. "So do girls."  
  
"What does it mean to them?" Gaara asked innocently.  
  
"Um... Well..." Kankurou looked at Shikamaru for help, but receive none, Shikamaru giving him an "I did my share" look. "Well, sometimes it shows them we love them..."  
  
"And the other times?"  
  
Kankurou looked desperately at Shikamaru, who nodded and said quickly, "If you want to show a girl you like you, you don't need to know about the other times."  
  
"Ok." Gaara walked back to the door.  
  
"Wait, who are you trying to impress?" Kankurou called.  
  
Gaara turned and glared at him. "None of your business." He turned around and ran smack into ...  
  
"Hey, Kiba," Shikamaru called, getting back on his chair.  
  
Kiba ignored him, however, and grabbed the front of Gaara's shirt (Doesn't HE have a lot of nerve?) and shouted, "You listen up, Shorty! If you come near my sister again, I'll rip you limb—from—limb!" From Kiba's side, Akamaru barked threateningly.  
  
Gaara raised a nonexistent eyebrow and pushed his hand away. "Get out of my house."  
  
"He's not gonna hurt her," Kankurou called from the sofa to a seething Kiba. "Just go."  
  
Kiba growled in the back of his throat before stalking off into the night. Akamaru gave Gaara a bark of warning before trotting after his master.  
  
"I never did understand that guy," Shikamaru said lazily.  
  
At the Inuzuka House  
  
Kiba stopped when he saw Rynn waiting for him in the doorway to his room. She opened her mouth to say something to show she was annoyed at him, the seemed to think better of it and snapped, "Never mind," and stomped away to her room.  
  
"What was that all about?" Kiba asked Akamaru, who barked. "You're right; girls are a hormone volcano."  
  
A little later, same place  
  
Gaara stood on the roof of the Inuzuka household, above Rynn's window, from which was blaring loud music (Slipknot, whatever song you like.). Even an idiot could see he sort of "liked" the redheaded girl; hell, even Kankurou had noticed. And Gaara, being Gaara, didn't know how to tell her with words; he had always relied on his actions to speak for him. The whole sex thing Kankurou was so obsessed about had been labeled cleanly as an "action" (Oh, was it ever an action!); but did he really want to portray his emotions with the unhygienic art of ... dare he say it ... KISSING?  
  
_I don't know, you tell me._  
  
_I told you not to talk to me!_  
  
_I can't help it if you start talking about sex and kissing around me?_ (What's the big deal? Is it Tanuki mating season?) _Just go screw her and get it over with!_  
  
_Screw?_  
  
_It means have sex..._  
  
_Oh ... fine!_  
  
Focusing chakra on the soles of his feet, Gaara attached himself to the roof and leaned over the edge, rapping his knuckles on the window. He saw Rynn turn and, upon seeing him, grinned and opened the window. "What's up?"  
  
"Can I come in?"  
  
"Yeah." She stepped aside so he could swing himself in. "What's up?" she repeated as he set himself to rights.  
  
Gaara paused, unsure.  
  
_Just kiss her! The least she could do is slap you! And no worries there, little buddy._  
  
_I'm not your ... little buddy?_  
  
_KISS HER!_  
  
_But..._  
  
_KISS HER YOU LAME-ASS BEFORE I DO!_  
  
_...You can't, you're sort of sealed in there._  
  
_...Just do it._  
  
Before he could think again, his body moved of it's own accord, his hand moving to cup her face as he leaned in, touching his lips against hers.  
  
For a split second, all he could see was white, his lips lingering against hers, as she froze, unsure. Then, suddenly, he felt her press her lips against his with a gentle pressure. This was ...  
  
... Anything but unhygienic.  
  
His fingers moved on their own to gently stroke the soft skin of her face as she brought her hands up to wrap themselves around her neck as she applied more pressure.  
  
_Told you so._  
  
_Shut up._  
  
He moved his hand to touch her waist like he'd seen Kankurou do when he was dancing with Kyu. His hands traced on her back, drawing patterns against her bare skin (A/N: she was wearing a tank top, people! Sickos...). He heard her gasp slightly at his touch, then she moved to unwrap him from his sash and leather strap, which he allowed as he slowly ran his fingers under the straps of her tank top, pulling them down over her shoulders. He wasn't sure what he was doing, but animal instincts told him (actually it was the Shukaku) that he was doing it right as he slowly pushed her back to lay on her bed, which was right under her window. By now, she had unwrapped him from his sash and strap, and had tossed them next to the bed as his hands moved down her sides to run over the smooth skin of her stomach.  
  
Maybe Kankurou had been right. For once.  
  
Sand-nin's house  
  
"I wonder where Gaara went," Temari said thoughtfully, sipping her frozen latte, laying sideways across Shikamaru's lap.  
  
"I think I have a pretty good idea," Kankurou said, lying on the couch with Kyu on him, munching a donut.  
  
"Where?" Temari raised an eyebrow.  
  
"It's a secret between men," he said casually.  
  
"I hope you're not talking about yourself?"  
  
"Come on, it's late," Kyu said, getting up off Kankurou and tossing her empty cup in the trashcan. "Lets go to bed."  
  
"Ok." Kankurou got up at once and followed her up the stairs.  
  
"Come on, let's go," Temari said, getting up as well and dragging him up the stairs.  
  
"How troublesome," Shikamaru mumbled as she pulled him down the hall. They heard soft laughter and moans of enjoyment from the next room (Kankurou's room was between Gaara's and Temari's). It seemed that now that Gaara was out, Kankurou was in no way trying to make Kyu be quiet. But Temari and Shikamaru weren't complaining; instead of annoying them, the other room's activity furthered their passion.  
  
Once inside, Shikamaru pushed Temari against the bed, taking an uncharacteristic control of the matter as her fingers moved expertly across his clothes, pulling off his shirt and jacket and tossing them away as he kissed her lips and neck, his hands on either side of her head, holding himself up. With a smirk, she wrapped her arms around his neck and rolled over, straddling his waist. He smirked as well, his hands creeping up her sides, pushing her shirt up over her head, drawing gasps and moans as his hands made contact with her bare skin.  
  
Once in Kankurou's room, Kyu jumped on him, wrapping her legs around his waist as she kissed him passionately. He quickly closed the door, running his hand over the locks to secure them, and walked over to the bed and leaned over it, letting her fall onto the entanglement of blankets. Her soft hands reached out to him, stroking his bare arms and neck, pulling him down on her, kissing him again. Her touch extracted soft moans of pleasure as he kissed her his lips passing over her lips, cheeks, forehead and eyes, before he moved down, gently nipping her neck, drawing a gasp of both pain and pleasure. Slowly, expertly, his hands moved to uncover her bare skin as as he kissed her throat, her fingers entwining with his hair.  
  
Rynn's room (ha! Betcha all been wondering about THAT!)  
  
Gaara looked down at the sleeping Rynn from where he stood, fully dressed, at the foot of her bed. She might be mad at him for leaving, but did he have a choice? Her brother might smile him, and come in and try (keyword: try) to "rip him limb from limb." So, keeping that in mind, he put his foot on the windowsill and jumped out into the early haze of the sunrise. (A/N: Hmm, dramatic much?)  
  
Sand-nin's house  
  
Gaara looked around when he got back to his house. The front door of the house opened into the kitchen; against one wall was a rack to put coats and shoes; here, he kicked off his sandals. The kitchen and living room were one large room, separated by a small step surrounding the kitchen. The living room took up a large portion of the room, with a high ceiling and a large TV in one corner. Around the room were a sofa, matching chair, and a small table where the sand-nins usually ate. In one corner, close to the kitchen, there was a foosball table Kankurou had gotten off the Internet. On the foosball table were various objects such as a bowl of half-eaten popcorn, a few magazines, a TV guide, and an unnaturally large chocolate bar, opened at one end with a rather large bite taken out of it. Gaara looked around with a small sigh; it was a really nice house, he realized; he'd just never taken the time to notice.  
  
"You're up early."  
  
Gaara turned, expertly covering his surprise with a "What do you want?"  
  
Kyu shrugged, scraping a layer of vanilla ice cream off the top of the carton in front of her with a spoon. "Couldn't sleep."  
  
Oh, didn't he know that feeling.  
  
"You wanna sit?" she asked, scooting over on the sofa where she was sitting.  
  
He sat down on the arm of the sofa, his arms crossed, starring at her. She was wearing one of Kankurou's overly large hockey jerseys, showing an unnerving portion of her bare skin and legs, the carton of ice cream on her lap. He found, however, that the lust he had looked at Rynn with didn't come again upon seeing this. "Where's Kankurou?" he asked.  
  
She shrugged. "Asleep, I guess. So're Temari and Shikamaru, so be quiet when you go up there."  
  
He shrugged, thinking. If she was Kankurou's girlfriend (Wow, I never actually put that in words before ... huh.) she would know about sex, wouldn't she?  
  
_Well, duh._  
  
_SHUT UP, SHUKAKU!_  
  
"Kyu?"  
  
"Yeah?" She scraped off another layer of ice cream.  
  
"I have a question."  
  
"Ok."  
  
_Damn. She didn't seem phased at all..._  
  
_SHUT UP!_  
  
"If you had ... sex ... with my brother ... and then he left, would you be mad?"  
  
Kyu raised an eyebrow. "Maybe you should tell me the whole story."  
  
So, Gaara told her (not going into details) how he had gone over Rynn's house last night, and how he had left when she was sleeping that morning. Kyu nodded thoughtfully when he was done, cutting patterns in the soft ice cream with her spoon, thinking.  
  
"Well it all depends," she said, after a few minutes. "If you're going to go see her again today, I doubt she'll be mad. But if she is, you can take care of that."  
  
_By squishing her!_  
  
"By squishing her?" Gaara said at the exact same time as the Shukaku, causing Inner-Gaara and Shukaku to look at each other oddly.  
  
"No," she said through a laugh. "If she really likes you, she won't be mad for long."  
  
"Oh." He paused. "Do you really like my brother?"  
  
She nodded, without hesitation. "I love your brother."  
  
"You didn't even know he existed until a week ago."  
  
"I knew he existed," she said, looking slightly offended. "I heard about him, and I'd seen him around a couple of times. I just never really got to talk to him until the party."  
  
"Isn't it a little early to be saying you love him, then?"  
  
"Um ... No." She shrugged, whacking a particularly hard part of the ice cream with her spoon. "It's never too early. But sometimes, it can be too late."  
  
"Oh," he said, as if he understood what she was saying.  
  
She sighed and got up, sticking her spoon upright in the carton and crossing to the kitchen, replacing it in the freezer. "I'm gonna go back to bed," she informed him. "And remember, she won't be mad forever."  
  
Gaara nodded mutely as she went back upstairs, yawning hugely. "Kyu?"  
  
"Yeah?" She turned.  
  
"Don't tell Kankurou."  
  
She grinned and winked. "You're safe with me."  
  
He gave her a small smile before she turned and headed back up the stairs.  
  
(A/N: Muhahahahahahaha! Lotsa-lotsa lemony goodness! If you guys want the uncensored version of any of these pairings—KanKyu, TemShika, GaaraRynn—get my personal email from fan fiction dot net, ask me and I'll email them to you, since I don't want anyone to put their e-mails into reviews again, since people could get them and make jokes and stuff. I just couldn't type them all up because my mum might read this, and yeah. Y'all prolly know how that is. . . TY to KageNoKatana for giving me a few of the ideas for this chappie!) 


	6. Bring Me To Life

A Night To Remember  
  
Chapter Six: Bring Me To Life

Ok, um, I was gonna wait for more reviews, but I got bored, HA, so I decided to post this. Anyway, as I was going through my chapter management thing to add new chapters everywhere, I noticed... I have ALOT of fics out. Go figure. Lol. I have two new ones how, called Gaara's Clues, and This Much I Know Is True... I only got one review for TMIKIT, so far... hey, that makes a word... is tmikit a word?

* * *

Note: This chapter is a song chapter for Bring Me To Life by Evanescence.  
  
Gaara peered into Rynn's window, feeling a strange sense of nervousness; he wasn't sure if she would be angry with him or not. He had seen Temari angry with Shikamaru when he'd "run away," as she had so pleasantly put it, and it wasn't cheerful to behold. But, Temari and Shikamaru always seemed to resolve their differences and get back together.  
  
_And if she doesn't forgive you, you can always squish her._  
  
'_Shut up, Shukaku._' Looking around, he saw her sitting on her bed, reading a manga, loud music blasting from the speakers. From the way she continuously punched the wall every time she turned the page, he had a feeling she was sort of mad.  
  
_Oh, you think? No wait, how 'bout I just shut myself up?_  
  
Gaara sighed and rapped his knuckles on the window. He saw her lift her head, see him, and look at her manga again without even batting an eyebrow. He growled angrily at being ignored and banged his fist on the glass.  
  
"Go away! I don't want to talk to you!" she shouted, turning up the volume.  
  
He frowned and, using the sand, worked open the window and stepped inside. He suppressed a gulp when he saw she had gone so far as to bring one of her dogs in with her. Tsubasa knew him well by now, but if Rynn gave the order, he had a feeling the dog would be eating to be eating sand very soon.  
  
"Get out of my room!" she shouted, jumping up.  
  
Instead of leaving, however, he moved closer, reaching out to touch her cheek. "Rynn..."  
  
"Get out!" she shouted again, moving to slap him, but got stopped by the sand. Looking slightly bewildered, she said again, "Get out of my room! I don't want you here!"  
  
"Rynn, you don't understand," he said quietly, moving closer.  
  
"Oh, I understand!" she snapped, stepping back, her cheeks flushed, as he reached out to touch her waist in an effort to pull her towards him like he had seen Kankurou do to Kyu. "I understand that you used me!"  
  
"No, I didn't..."  
  
"Oh, yeah, right!" She went back to shouting at him. "Here's a tip; most guys tend to stick around!"  
  
"Rynn ... It wasn't ... I was ... your brother..." Why couldn't he just talk?!

_Um, because she could probably kill you at any time, she's so mad?_  
  
"Oh really? Well, my brother sure as hell didn't stop you last night, did he?!" she shouted, moving away again, causing him to take a step closer. "How many other girls have you done this to?!"  
  
"Actually," he said quietly, moving closer so she was up against the wall. "You're my first."  
  
"Oh, yeah, you needed a practice round, huh?" She looked like a caged animal, her eyes twitching to the door and window, as if looking for an escape route.  
  
"No," he said, still quiet, moving closer, his fingers gently stroking her soft cheek. "I wanted to show you ... that I like you."  
  
She faltered at that. "Really?"  
  
He nodded and leaned down on her, capturing her full, soft lips with his.  
  
**How can you see into my eyes like open doors **

**Leading you down into my core  
  
Where I've become so numb without a soul  
  
My spirit sleeping somewhere cold **

**Until you find it there and lead it back home  
**  
He felt her whisper some form of endearment as he pulled her to him, his soft kiss turning into a tremor of passion as his hands moved up her sides, pulling up her shirt with them.  
  
**Wake me up inside  
  
Wake me up inside **

**Call my name and save me from the dark **

**Bid my blood to run before I come undone **

**Save me from the nothing I've become**  
  
Sand-nin's house  
  
Temari woke up to find Shikamaru laying next to her, without a trace of sleep, starring at her. 'Was he watching me all night?' When he saw she was awake, he smiled slightly and pulled her on top of him, his calloused hands creeping up her back.  
  
"Morning," he said quietly, kissing her neck passionately.  
  
**Now that I know what I'm without  
  
You can't just leave me **

**Breathe into me and make me real **

**Bring me to life  
**  
A shudder moved through her as he kissed his way down her collarbone, his hot tongue grazing her throat. Her hands found the band keeping his hair in check and, after a few moments of fumbling, she tore it off, a cascade of soft brown hair falling over his eyes, flowing across the pillow. She smiled, running her fingers through it lovingly as his hands cupped her shoulders, bringing her down on him, gasping with pleasure.  
  
**Wake me up inside  
  
Wake me up inside **

**Call my name and save me from the dark **

**Bid my blood to run before I come undone **

**Save me from the nothing I've become **

**Bring me to life  
**  
Next room  
  
Kankurou mumbled under his breath, one eye cracked open as he rolled over, preparing to kiss the soft body next to him, but finding there was none. He frowned and sat up, looking around. "Kyu-chan?" he hissed, so as not to disturb the two in the next room.  
  
"Yeah?" He looked up. She smiled at him, closing the door, and crawled under the covers with him again. He smiled, tugging on the hockey jersey she was wearing.  
  
"What's this?"  
  
"Oh, I just borrowed it," she said casually, slipping her arms in and letting him pull it over her head; it was big enough to look like a dress on her, covering her to her knees. "I went down for a snack."  
  
"Oh." He pulled her against him, spooning her, and wrapped an arm around her waist, twirling a strand of her soft, obsidian hair in his fingers. "Well, warn me next time; I panic when I wake up and you're not there. It's been happening at an alarming frequency nowadays."  
  
She smiled guilty, rolling over and nipping his neck as apology.  
  
**Frozen inside without your touch, without your love  
  
Darling only you are the life among the dead  
**  
Kankurou smirked and rolled over, holding himself up with a hand on either side of her, kissing her throat, moving slowly down to her shoulder, then back over her collarbone, drawing gasps of pleasure and moans for him to continue, her hands crawling up his back as he continued, kissing the hollow of her throat, where he knew she was weak, causing her to gasp, her hands gripping his hair almost painfully and he lowered himself on her.  
  
**All this time I can't believe I couldn't see  
  
Kept in the dark but you were there in front of me **

**I've been sleeping a thousand years, it seems **

**Got to open my eyes to everything **

**Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul **

**Don't let me die here, there must be something more **

**Bring me to life  
**  
(A/N: Anyone besides me noticed that Kan-kun and Kyu are the only ones who haven't had any arguments with each other? This is bothering me ... They need more obstacles. Anyway, I like to think that was worth the wait... And if I don't get a heapin' lot of reviews on this, I'm not going to continue... My confidence sucks because of TMIKIT...SO PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!)


	7. Kazekage

A Night To Remember

Ok, guess what? This is the last chappie! BUT! Before you send me reviews begging me to continue... I AM! I'm thinking about a sequel as I type! HA! But I won't put it up unless I get LOADS of reviews. So unless I get piled high in reviews for this chappie, I won't out it in. . Anyway, here's Kyu and Kan-kun's obstacles!

* * *

Chapter Seven: Kazekage  
  
Kyu sighed heavily, bustling around her room. Her parents had given her permission to spend a two-week vacation with her new best friend, Temari, which was, of course, code for a two-week vacation with Kankurou. But of course, her overly protective parents wouldn't allow her to spend the night if she said she was going to spend the vacation with her boyfriend. Not that she and Temari weren't best friends, seeing as Kyu spent every waking moment of every waking day of her life for the past week over the Sand- Nin's house. The plan was set; now, all she had to do was pack.  
  
Opening her closet, she shifted through her many outfits before picking out the ones she liked best. Moving her jacket out of the way to get her shoes, she saw a slip of paper fall out of it. Picking it up, she couldn't help but smile. It was a slip of photos from one of those picture booths at the mall, with her and her teammates, Aburame Yashi and Inuzuka Chuimaru. Chuimaru and Kyu made funny faces in all but the first picture, where all of them tried their best to look good, Kyu in the middle, with the guys on either side. Yashi, as was his nature, looked solemn and serious in all five of the pictures, except one, which showed Chuimaru pulled at the sides of Yashi's mouth, making him smile. The next picture showed Chuimaru covered in bugs. Kyu smiled and put it in her duffle bag as well.  
  
Finally finished packing, she picked up her coat, slung her bag over her shoulder, and hopped out the window. A cheesy farewell from her parents must be avoided at all costs.  
  
"Hey, slut!"  
  
She turned and smiled. "Hey, Kan-kun."  
  
Kankurou grinned, stepping out of the shadows of the trees behind her house. "What took you so long? I waited out here for an hour." He gave her a kiss on the cheek, taking her bag from her and putting it on his own shoulder (A/N: OH MY GOD, I'M FALLING IN LOVE! He waits forever for her, then carries her stuff! If anyone doesn't like, ADORE Kan-kun by now, something is WRONG WITH YOU!). "Holy crap!" He nearly fell over from the weight of it. "What the hell did you bring?"  
  
Kyu shrugged innocently. "A girl's got needs."  
  
He smirked, shifting the strap of the duffle bag to accustom himself to the weight. "So, your parents said yes to you staying with me for a while?"  
  
"Actually," Kyu said, blushing guiltily. "They think I'm staying with Temari."  
  
He snorted. "Why? Over-protective parents?"  
  
"You have no idea." She shuddered at the memories. "They never let me go over Chuimaru's or Yashi's house unless their parents were there, and they had both of their numbers."  
  
Kankurou grimaced. "That's crazy."  
  
"What about your parents?" she asked, snaking her arm through his.  
  
"Eh... I never really knew my mother. She died when I was about two. My dad was the Kazekage of our village, so I never really ever got to see him, and he wasn't the best of dads. We weren't allowed to call him father, and we weren't allowed to see him unless we had an appointment." (A/N: Awwwww!)  
  
"Oh... Sorry."  
  
"Don't be; I was ok. My attendants let me go wherever I wanted, so I had a lot of fun. It was just really boring, because no one wanted anything to do with me because of Gaara, so people usually ran away from me. After a while, I just got used to it."  
  
"That's not right. You shouldn't have been treated like that."  
  
"Yeah, well." He shrugged carelessly. "It doesn't bother me anymore, but I'm never going back to the Sand," he added firmly. "Not for anything."  
  
"Anything?" said a quiet voice.  
  
"Nope." He shook his head.  
  
"That's too bad."  
  
"Eh?" He turned around. Behind him stood at least ten ninjas (Sand nins, by their head protectors.). In the middle of the group, bound and gagged, was a struggling Kyu. "Let her go!" Kankurou shouted, his hand instinctively going to his shoulder, but, to his horror, he had left Karasu at home.  
  
"We can't do that just yet," the leader said mockingly.  
  
Kankurou's eyes widened. "Baki?!"  
  
His old sensei smirked. "I'm flattered you recognize me. I didn't recognize you, until Temari told me you stopped putting on your war-paint."  
  
"Shut up!" Kankurou shouted. "Let Kyu go!"  
  
"We will," Baki said with a smirk. "If you fulfill our request."  
  
"What request?" Kankurou spat.  
  
"We want you to be the next Kazekage."  
  
Kankurou's eyes widened, if possible, more. "Are you stupid?! No!"  
  
Baki shrugged. "Then we will kill this woman."  
  
At this point, Kyu had somehow worked of the gag off her mouth, and shouted, "Don't, Kankurou! I'll be ok!"  
  
"Shut up!" one of the Nins holding her snapped, hitting her hard across the head. Kankurou saw her body go limp, which only infuriated him more.  
  
"Let her go! I'll never be your Kazekage!" he shouted, (A/N: And he expects to get his way... how?) drawing a kunai.  
  
"And what are you going to do with that?" Baki snorted. "You don't know how to use that; you're about as good as Gaara when it comes to hand-weapons."  
  
Kankurou starred down at the kunai in his hand; he knew Baki was right; he had never even touched a kunai since he'd started working with puppets. Without Karasu, he had no way of defending himself, or Kyu.  
  
"We'll give you a while to consider our offer," Baki said with a smirk. Snapping his fingers at the Nins around Kyu, they all poofed away.  
  
Kankurou screamed in fury and slammed the kunai into the ground. "Damn! Damn! Damn!" he shouted, banging the ground with his fist. "DAMN!" Jumping up, he started punching a nearby tree. "Damn!"  
  
He looked down at his knuckles. Blood seeped through the cuts the tree bark had made. His eyes burned as he leaned against the tree.  
  
"Are you going to go?"  
  
Kankurou looked up. Gaara stood before him, his arms crossed. "You decide to come out now?!"  
  
"I heard Temari tell Baki where you were, and I followed," Gaara said plainly.  
  
"You bastard!" Kankurou shouted, jumping up. "You let them get away!"  
  
"It's none of my business."  
  
"I'm your BROTHER! If Rynn was in trouble, I would have helped you!"  
  
"Who said I wasn't going to help you?"  
  
"I think you've helped enough!" Kankurou snapped, jumping into the trees.  
  
Sand Nin's house  
  
Temari opened the freezer and looked around. "She ate all the vanilla ice cream; write down we need to buy more."  
  
Shikamaru sighed heavily. "Vanilla ice cream," he muttered, writing it down on the little pad in front of him. "Got it."  
  
"Temari!" (A/N: I seem to make Kankurou call her a lot in my fics ... poor Temari. Her name is so over-used.) Kankurou burst into the room, panting heavily.  
  
"What?" She turned around.  
  
"Baki came and took Kyu!"  
  
"What?!"  
  
"What?" Rynn looked up from where she was watching TV.  
  
"Why?" Shikamaru asked. Everyone looked at him. "Well, obviously 'WHAT?!' wasn't getting us anywhere."  
  
"Come on, sit down," Temari said, pulling her brother over to sit down next to Shikamaru.  
  
"He said if I didn't take the role of Kazekage, they would kill her!" Kankurou cried, jumping up again and pacing.  
  
"Kankurou—" Temari began.  
  
"DON'T TELL ME TO SIT DOWN!" he shouted, pacing even faster.  
  
"I was just going to ask if you wanted us to come with you to get her," Temari said meekly; she'd never seen her brother like this; he was a lot like Shikamaru when it came to getting angry. Well, he used to, anyway.  
  
"No! I'll get her on my own!" Kankurou snapped. He paused for a few minutes, then said, considerably quieter, "Yeah, ok."  
  
"Ok, when are we leaving?" Rynn asked.  
  
All three of the older ninjas looked at her.  
  
"I'm going, too!" she said stubbornly.  
  
Kankurou sighed. "Fine, whatever, we're leaving as soon as everyone's packed."  
  
"Shouldn't we wait for Gaara?" Temari asked, heading upstairs with Kankurou and Shikamaru.  
  
"No!" Kankurou said firmly. "And don't you tell him, either!" he added, turning on Rynn, who was putting her coat on.  
  
"Why not?" she asked, frowning.  
  
"Because I said so, and if he shows up, I'll break every bone in your body!"  
  
"You don't fight girls," Temari reminded him, before going in her room with Shikamaru.  
  
"Oh ... Well, I'll make Karasu break every bone in your body," he said, after a few moments of thought.  
  
Rynn sighed. "Ok, fine, I won't tell him."  
  
"Good." Kankurou went into his room. He didn't pack any clothes or anything; he simply strapped Karasu in his back and went to wait in the hall. "You guys better not be screwin' in there!" he shouted, rapping his knuckles on Temari's door.  
  
"We're not," Temari said, opening the door, closely followed by Shikamaru.  
  
"Ok, good." Kankurou ran down the steps two at a time. "Come on, we gotta go get Rynn."  
  
In the desert  
  
"Let me go!" Kyu shouted, beating Baki with her fists.  
  
"No."  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"No!"  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"No!"  
  
"YES!"  
  
"NO!"  
  
"YES!"  
  
"How does he stand her?" Baki snapped at a nearby guard.  
  
"She must be really good," the guard said with a shrug.  
  
"Perverts," Kyu mumbled under her breath.  
  
"Just sit," Baki ordered, pushing her to sit down on a cushioned seat.  
  
"What if I don't want to?" she snapped, jumping up again.  
  
"Then you can stand there until Kankurou-sama comes for you," Baki snapped, whipping the chair away. "If he comes for you, that is."  
  
"He'll come for me," she said stubbornly, crossing her arms.  
  
"Sure, he will," Baki said sarcastically. "Kankurou-sama doesn't care enough about anyone to travel halfway across the country to rescue them."  
  
"He cares about me," she snapped. Turning on Baki, she poked him harshly. "And don't you do that whole villain thing where you try and make me loose faith in him! Because it won't work!"  
  
Baki raised his visible eyebrow. "I'm not a villain."  
  
"You kidnapped me!" she cried, her voice rising.  
  
"It was a mission!"  
  
"Really?" She calmed down. "Wow, I feel special ... I'm a mission!"  
  
"The mission was to find Kankurou-sama," Baki corrected, quickly hiding the anime-style sweat drop. "You can blame Temari for your getting kidnapped; she was the one who told us about you."  
  
Kyu raised an eyebrow. "You're really dumb-looking, you know that, right?"  
  
If Baki had been one to fall over anime-style, he would have. Instead, he coughed.  
  
"I'm hungry," she whined, sitting cross-legged on the floor.  
  
Baki snapped his fingers and two servants appeared at his side. "Get some food for Kyu-sama."  
  
"Since when was I 'Kyu-sama'?" she asked as the servants sailed out of the room at an unearthly speed.  
  
"When Kankurou becomes the Kazekage, you will be his bride," Baki said, as if this were no big deal and happened all the time. (A/N: I just made this up...)  
  
However, to Kyu, it was a big deal, and didn't happen at all.  
  
"WHAT?!" she shrieked, jumping up. "I'm going to be WHAT, now?!"  
  
"It's customary," Baki said with a shrug. "Even though you are not of the Sand, my sources say you're a very skilled ninja. You will be perfect."  
  
"Ohh, lemme think." She scratched her head. "NO! I'm not leaving the Leaf! Besides, my parents would kill me..."  
  
"You don't have a choice. If he becomes the Kazekage, you will become his bride," Baki said stubbornly.  
  
"I'm only sixteen!" she cried.  
  
"So? The last Kazekage got married when his bride was thirteen." (This didn't really happen, I don't think... But she looked REALLY young in Gaara's picture. No flamers please.)  
  
"That's disgusting." Kyu crossed her arms and turned away. "Well, I'm not doing it."  
  
Baki was about to yell at her when the servants came back with a tray of food and a pitcher of water and a glass. He sighed. "Here. Eat."  
  
"No. I don't want your food," she said coldly.  
  
Tiny little temper veins crawled over Baki's temples. "Look, kid, I've been pretty nice to you since you got here, even though you've been worse behaved then Gaara EVER was, and if you don't eat this, I'm going to show you a side of me that's not very nice!"  
  
"Like the other side of your face?"  
  
"Look, just because I have an acne problem doesn't mean you can insult me!" Baki shouted, his visible cheek turning a slight red.  
  
"It's true, though. You don't sleep with your mask on."  
  
I don't know how dense Baki is, but he only just realized five seconds ago that the person insulting his face wasn't Kyu, so he turns around and looks shocked.  
  
"How did you get here so fast?" he cried.  
  
Kankurou smirked, whipping Karasu off his back. "Lets just say I know my deserts."  
  
"You came alone?" Baki asked, looking around.  
  
"Kankurou!" Kyu called, standing up. "Do I seriously have to marry you if you become—"  
  
"WILL YOU SHUT UP ABOUT THE MARRIAGE THING?!" Baki shouted, hitting Kyu in the nape of her neck, causing her to fall over. He hadn't meant for her to go unconscious, but she did, since she hit her head on the table her food was on. Baki really isn't having a well-oiled day today, is he?  
  
"Don't touch her!" Kankurou shouted. He mentally shook himself, relaxing himself, and pressed his hands together in a praying motion, closing his eyes. "Kugustu No Jutsu!"  
  
The bandages around Karasu unwound, revealing the (disgusting) puppet. Chakra strings slithered out of the ends of Kankurou's fingers to attach themselves to the puppet as it draped itself over it's commander. Kankurou smirked.  
  
"You can't beat me with that old toy," Baki snorted. "I know all your techniques."  
  
"I've improved over the last year," the younger said with confidence. "You haven't been monitoring me since you kicked us out."  
  
Baki smirked. "You couldn't have improved."  
  
"If I'm so much weaker then you, why did you choose me to be your Kazekage?" Kankurou said coldly, twitching his fingers and bringing Karasu to life.  
  
Baki frowned in thought as several Sand Ninjas jumped in at his side.  
  
Kankurou smirked. "Can't fight by yourself? Wimp."  
  
Baki smirked. "You can only fight one person at a time; you have no room to talk." In one movement, all five sand ninjas jumped into the air, drawing kunai.  
  
Kankurou smirked. "TEMARI, NOW!"  
  
"HAI!" A blast of wind blew the Sand Nins away to different parts of the room. Smirking in all her multi-pony tailed glory, Temari jumped down next to her brother.  
  
"You didn't think I'd let him go alone, did you?" Temari scoffed. "I take my eyes off him for one minute, he's off screwin' the girl he met last week."  
  
"You ENCOURAGED me!" Kankurou cried.  
  
"Temari," Baki mumbled, standing up shakily. "You defy your teacher?"  
  
Temari snickered. "You're not my teacher."  
  
"Temari," Kankurou said softly, "Baki is mine. Pick off the others as you please."  
  
Temari shrugged, and turned on the other Ninjas, fan in hand, an evil smirk on her lips. Kankurou turned on Baki, Karasu twitching with every move of his fingers.  
  
"You're going to pay," Kankurou said in a deadly voice, raising one hand, pulling up the upper portion of Karasu's body.  
  
Baki smirked, drawing a few more kunai and throwing them at Kankurou. Kankurou ducked, pulling Karasu up to guard. Peeking over the puppet's shoulder, he mumbled, "Where'd he go? Above?" He looked up.  
  
"Behind."  
  
Kankurou whirled around, ducking just in time to dodge a shuriken. Baki jumped out of the way as Karasu flew towards him, arms extended. Kankurou smirked.  
  
Baki raised an eyebrow. "What the hell are you smirking at?!"  
  
Kankurou laughed as Baki suddenly fell into what he hoped was a hole in the wall. But, as I said before, Baki wasn't having the best day, so he had to fall into the stomach of Kuroari, Kankurou's other puppet. How did Kankurou get that puppet in there without my knowing? I don't know. Let's continue.  
  
Baki's eyes widened as Kuroari's stomach closed in on him. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"  
  
Kankurou crowed with victory. "Kuroari is my new puppet. Don't you remember? The two puppets work together to destroy the enemy!" Twitching his fingers, Karasu exploding into several different pieces, knives appearing at the end of each of the limbs, to slide into the slots in Kuroari's stomach, drawing screams of pain as the knives slid home.  
  
BOOM!  
  
"Performance ended," Kankurou said with a smirk. (Yeah, I know, he said it in the manga ... BUT IT SOUNDED SO COOL!)  
  
"Kankurou! Look out!" Rynn screamed.  
  
"Huh?" Kankurou turned around and saw ten kunai flying towards him. "ACK!" He tried to pull Karasu together in time to block, but couldn't; it always took him at least a minute to get the puppet in working order again, which was why he only used this attack when he needed to. Covering his face with his arms, he waited for the blow to come.  
  
It didn't.  
  
He looked up to see a wall of sand. "Wha..."  
  
"I said I was sorry. You didn't have to run off without telling me," Gaara said coldly, standing before the wall.  
  
Kankurou's eyes widened. "Gaara..." he said quietly. "Did you just save me?" he asked suspiciously, standing up and jerking Karasu together again.  
  
"..."  
  
"Ok, well, thanks." Kankurou looked around as the wall receded to kill the man who had thrown the kunai. All of the others had killed their opponents; the room was strewn with the bodies of dead Sand Nins. Temari smirked, snapping her fan closed.  
  
"That was easy," she said carelessly, running a hand over her scalp to check her hair. "Wasn't it?"  
  
They all ignored her, however, as they were all hovering over Kyu, who lay limp in Kankurou's arms, her head rolling dangerously. Gaara quickly remedied this by holding her head up with a block of sand. Kankurou shook her gently. "Kyu, wake up!"  
  
Shikamaru frowned slightly and opened one of the compartments in his Chuunin vest, taking out a small vile. "Open her mouth."  
  
Kankurou looked at the vile, which Shikamaru opened, suspiciously, but did as he was told. Shikamaru held the vile over her mouth and carefully let two or three drops fall in. "Ok, hold her up so she can swallow," he instructed, putting the vile back in it's compartment.  
  
Kankurou obeyed, supporting her with his arm. "What's that stuff do?"  
  
"It's a medicine to wake someone up if they've suffered brain damage," Shikamaru said plainly. "I've often thought of using it on Naruto, but I figured he was just born that way." He looked around at the dead silence. "Ok, no one has to laugh..."  
  
"Hey!" Rynn leaned over Kyu. "I think her eye twitched!"  
  
"Hnn..." One of Kyu's bright eyes opened, drawing exclamations of joy from everyone (except Gaara, who just smirked slightly).  
  
"Kyu!" Kankurou hugged her tightly.  
  
"Hey, Kan-kun," she mumbled, closing her eyes. "Are you gonna be the Kazekage...?"  
  
He shook his head. "No."  
  
"Oh..." She frowned slightly. "But I wanted you to be..."  
  
Kankurou's eyes widened. "You did?"  
  
"Well, yeah." She smiled weakly at him. "You could change how the Sand village operates; a lot of the servants and people are just plain afraid of you all. You could make them see you aren't what they think you are."  
  
Kankurou paused, frowning thoughtfully. "I hadn't thought of it that way."  
  
She smiled, closing her eyes again and going back to sleep against him, folded in his strong, protective arms.  
  
Kankurou looked up at Temari, uncertain. "What do you think?"  
  
She shrugged. "I think you'd be a good Kazekage. You could really change how we live."  
  
He looked at Gaara, who said nothing, but simply gave him a small, yet very real smile, which was all the encouragement Kankurou needed.  
  
"OK, I'll do it," he said with a grin, picking up Kyu gently.  
  
"Where are you going?" Temari asked.  
  
"Well," he said, grinning over his shoulder at her. "We've got packing to do."  
  
Shikamaru groaned. "No way."  
  
"Come on, Shika!" Temari snapped, pulling on his arm.  
  
Shikamaru sighed while she dragged him away. "How troublesome."  
  
Recap on what happens  
  
Shikamaru, Rynn and Kyu move in with the Sand as a sort of "cultural exchange to further the peace treaties."  
  
Kankurou became Kazekage.  
  
Shikamaru and Temari got married.  
  
Kankurou and Kyu are engaged to get married at sometime in the distant future, when Kyu's decided it's legally ok.  
  
Gaara and Rynn ... are talking. (They're still goin' steady, o fans!)  
  
Temari became a jounin, and replaced Baki, and now has three students who think she's psycho.  
  
Kankurou and Gaara are currently working on finding a seal for the Shukaku, with a little success in that he can take two-hour naps. Which is a start.  
  
Kyu's over-protective parents were really mad at her, as she warned Baki, but gave their consent, since she reminded them that her marrying Kankurou would help Konoha.  
  
Kankurou made the Hidden Village of the Sand into a peaceful place, like Konoha, and made lots of treaties with the neighboring villages. A lot of new laws were put in place to prevent violence, which included a day in each week where cases could be heard and judged fairly, since Kankurou really is a fair sort of guy.  
  
And, since Kankurou didn't fulfill his promise to Gaara in the first chapter (the one that he couldn't talk for a week if Gaara went to the party), he fulfilled it now. Which resulted in several note cards and a large black marker by means of communication.  
  
And this writer can only sit back and finally work out that annoying cramp in her next she got from bending over the keyboard night and day.  
  
(A/N: That's right, people, it's frickin' 2:23 am, and I've been working on the last chapter and this one since six pm. I JUST HOPE YOU ALL ARE HAPPY! Just kidding, I took a couple food breaks. SIGH. I'm actually really fond of this fic ... I'm glad other people are too. If I sound mushy, it's because my brain has turned to moosh over the past couple of hours. Oh well. REVIEW! Sigh ... that took all my energy. How troublesome.) 


End file.
